When it comes to responsibly producing the oil and natural gas Coloradans need, our Noble Neighbor Program helps ensure we are doing everything we can to protect, respect and work together with the communities we call home.

Noble Operations Control Center

Safety is our responsibility. We always strive to be better. For this reason, we created a nerve center for our operations across northern Colorado, where our automated oil and natural gas facilities are monitored and controlled remotely in real time 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We call it the Noble Operations Control Center (NOCC). Our automated production facilities in the field communicate with the NOCC using solar-powered telemetry.

What is the Noble Operations Control Center?

The NOCC is managed by U.S. Air Force veteran, Mike Stewart. It operates much like an air traffic control facility, with technicians remotely monitoring the conditions and performance of our automated oil and natural gas facilities. Technicians can quickly and remotely adjust safety, environmental and production controls in real time. And if safety or environmental circumstances call for it, they can even shut down an oil and natural gas facility from the NOCC.

Currently, more than 70 percent of Noble Energy’s operations in Colorado are automated and monitored via the NOCC. The vast amount of data consolidated within the NOCC enables our Greeley-based control teams to be the eyes and ears of our operations across the DJ Basin.

The cutting-edge technology and innovation of the NOCC also extends to our personnel in the field. The data collected and monitored in the NOCC is remotely accessible to lease operators – the Noble Energy employees who physically service our facilities in the field – greatly improving their effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness.

Benefits of the Noble Operations Control Center

If called upon, the NOCC can immediately shut down an oil and natural gas facility as a precaution for our employees, first responders, community members, or the environment. Communities in Colorado witnessed this capability firsthand during the 2013 floods when the NOCC remotely shut in hundreds of wells.

Since then, our capability at the NOCC to remotely control facilities has grown, with more than 70 percent of Noble Energy’s Colorado facilities equipped with automation. Going forward, the NOCC’s control capacity will only increase, as every new facility developed under Noble Energy’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) program is highly automated with an array of sensors continuously providing technicians with real-time data.

Seeing through the eyes of the NOCC

Drilling and completions, often called hydraulic fracturing or fracking, are early stages of the energy development process that only last weeks. After a well is producing, lease operators and technicians in the NOCC remotely monitor our automated facilities. The NOCC’s role as an “extra set of eyes” helps operators in the field make responsible, informed decisions.

You can watch one of our lease operators, U.S. Army veteran Leonard Salazar explain how the “the NOCC helps ensure safety and situational awareness across our Colorado operations.”

Learn more about our commitment to safety

The NOCC is an example of Noble Energy’s commitment to safety and determination to find the right balance of the energy we need, the economy we want and environment we value. We are proud of our safety record, and we always strive to be better.